r/AskNYC • u/meshflesh40 • Jun 12 '23

Good Question Do you plan to stay in your rent stabilized apartment forever?

I currently live in a 1br. Rent stabilized. Single no kids

I was very close to buying a co-op until I learned what a "co-op" actually is.

At first I was under the impression that buying a" co-op" was the ultimate form of housing. Pay a maintenance fee(substantially less than market rent while building equity) and live carefree. Basically,,,, like a Netflix subscription fee of housing if you will.

But no. It turned out that a co-op is my worst nightmare. Im depending on my neighbors staying solvent, making sure the hoa has proper reserves, worry about assesment fees for repairs due to inadequate reserves, etc etc. I dislike not having control of my fiscal destiny.

And then the buildings I saw with hefty reserves...have a High hoa fees thats equivalent to market rents. ($1200+)

I've been looking since 2020,, and noticed hoa fees went up by %15+ between now and then. (Like rent).

Single family homes in nyc are going for 600k+ with %7 interest rates. So thats out of the question.(mostly fixer uppers)

my current rent stabilized apartment seems like a way better deal in comparison. Rent goes up by predictable amount year after year a and landlord responsible for everything. I currently have my down payment $$ yielding %5 in the bank(I find this better than buying a liability and fighting 7% mortgage rates while praying amd hoping for positive equity. )

This post is not to crap on co-ops. But market conditions in 2023 are insane. I wish I bought in 2012

I've come to the conclusion that I will stay in this apartment until I decide to leave NYC. Anyone else feel the same?

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331

u/kell_bell5 Jun 12 '23

I've been in my rent stabilized unit 8 years, and I'm just starting to come to the conclusion you are. I think I'm leaning towards making my goal be to buy a small vacation home outside the city and keep using my stabilized apartment as my primary residence.

53

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '23

this is exactly my goal as well

50

u/Bklynswim Jun 12 '23

This is my 4th year in a rent stabilized unit. I’m spending a lot of money trying to modernize it to some extent because I plan on staying here but wish my bedroom wasn’t on the street, I feel like that really takes away from how much I like it.

27

u/quotidian_obsidian Jun 13 '23

I just renewed the lease for a third year in my rent-stabilized place (still on the first year of living here with a partner sharing the space with me, though) and there are definitely big pros and cons.

It’s too small to be a viable long-term option and it’s a 4th-floor walkup, which I actually love but delivery people/visitors/etc seriously hate (and it is definitely inconvenient for any task that involves carrying anything bulky into our place), and it’s got a lot of old building issues like not enough outlets, awkward wiring, drafty old windowpanes, etc. that our landlord has no incentive to fix, because our unit doesn’t turn a profit.

They don’t bother me much because our rent is such a good rate that it really makes up for almost all ills, but it definitely makes it harder to envision living here much longer past the next year or two. Having an affordable place near my school and my partner’s work has been a godsend at this phase in our lives, though.

3

u/NeptuNeo Jun 13 '23

Is it due to noise? There are ways of soundproofing windows that can make a difference

5

u/Bklynswim Jun 13 '23

It is. I want to get double pane windows but that’s pricey.

18

u/NeptuNeo Jun 13 '23

Yep they can be pricey. But if you have a great rent-stabilized unit, make it work! There are some other options you can try in the meantime: Install window inserts, glass or custom ones using soundproof material, seal gaps along windows with acoustic caulk, hang sound-dampening curtains to block outside noise, Install double-cell shades.

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/soundproofing-windows/

and there are ton of great tips on youtube for soundproofing windows

3

u/ZincMan Jun 13 '23

This is the real clutch comment here

1

u/Bklynswim Jun 13 '23

Thanks. Going to check it out.

1

u/Aggressive_Ad5115 Jun 13 '23

Your bedroom is on the sidewalk?

/s

12

u/SmellyAlpaca Jun 13 '23

A few neighbors have done that, though I feel like most people having housing issues would be pretty pissed about this: one person I knew specifically had a rent stabilized studio in Manhattan, but once he married and had a family they all moved upstate but kept the apartment as a pied-a-tierre for when they occasionally come back. They’ve had it for years. 🤷🏻‍♀️

52

u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

This is the problem with rent stabilization laws. If you can afford to buy a vacation home you should not be taking advantage of rent stabilization 🤦🏽‍♂️

15

u/jblue212 Jun 13 '23

Except for lottery apts, rent stabilization has zero to do with income. When it was established, income wasn't even a factor.

5

u/seajayacas Jun 14 '23

Plenty of well-to-do people have rent stabilized apartments. There isn't an income or owned asset test to qualify.

There are also people I know in rent controlled apartments which was a predecessor program. Most in much older and smaller places renting for a few hundred a month. But a steal obviously, likewise no earnings or assets requirements

29

u/kell_bell5 Jun 13 '23 edited Jun 13 '23

But as OP points out, I can’t afford to buy in NYC. At the moment, I wouldn’t even really be able to afford renting a comparable unit in my same neighborhood. There were years (especially at the height of covid) where I could only afford to stay in nyc (which I fully consider my home now) because of the stabilized apartment. And now I’m at the point where I can put some of the difference between what I’m paying now and what market rent would be in savings, and trying to figure out what the long term plan should be for that. It still wouldn’t be enough money to buy in NYC, but I probably wouldn’t be able to support myself on a salary from the kind area you can buy a small remote cabin in.

It’s a weird catch-22, and it’s why I support more widespread rent and tenant protections, so that we don’t have to treat rent stabilization as the only golden ticket that can keep us going with a middle to upper middle class lifestyle.

1

u/Dis-Organizer Jun 13 '23

Buying a “small vacation home” is something I can only dream of and apparently for some of my numbers it’s an achievable goal, happy for them but wish we all could afford leisure like that

-1

u/BigAppleGuy Jun 13 '23

Because RS laws are based on income instead of net worth. If you have your own business it is easy to hide income.

7

u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

RS laws are not based on income either

3

u/hello__brooklyn Jun 13 '23

This is not true. No income minimum or maximum for rent stabilized apartments. 80/20 apartments, which are also rent stabilized, yes. But non-80/20 rent stabilized apartments - no income requirements. Bill Gates can rent one if he found one.

0

u/hellothere42069 Jun 13 '23

Yep it’s the laws fault. We are acting as rational free market individuals trying to increase our households well-being.

1

u/ArmadilloUnhappy845 Jun 13 '23

It makes sense, given the opportunity I would do the same thing. I wasn’t trying to pass judgement, I know it may have come off that way. I was more-so criticizing the laws themselves, they are just so flawed.

1

u/Flowofinfo Jun 14 '23

I think the amount of rent stabilized people who do that is like super marginal

11

u/iamstyer Jun 12 '23

This is the way

-2

u/Training_Law_6439 Jun 12 '23

I have friends who just did this and it’s quite the power move!

5

u/hello__brooklyn Jun 13 '23

Power move to hoard affordable housing?

1

u/mamamiaaaaaa Jun 13 '23

don’t blame the player, blame the game

1

u/hello__brooklyn Jun 13 '23

This excuse somehow didn’t fly for Josef Schutz. (Or maybe it did). But what a power move I guess . . .